[Location: The Exchange – Stage Three Arena]
The platform descended with a heavy, industrial groan.
Above them, the lights of the Colosseum faded, replaced by a humid, bioluminescent gloom.
The air grew thick, smelling of ozone, wet rust, and high-grade conduit oil.
The Chrome Jungle.
It was a nightmare ecosystem cultivated by the Diamond Faction.
Trees made of twisted rebar reached for the artificial sky, their leaves razor-sharp sheets of aluminum.
Vines of copper wire hung from the canopy, crackling with stray voltage.
The river cutting through the center was a stream of lukewarm, acidic coolant.
Damien stepped off the platform, his boots crunching on metal shavings that covered the ground like grass.
He looked across the clearing.
The Diamond Champion stood there.
The creature looked like a blank slate.
Its skin was pale, smooth, and featureless, shifting slightly like mercury trapped in a balloon.
It had no weapons, neither did it wear any armor.
